


am i blinded to what my son lacks?

by OverlyCheerfulRat



Category: Hazbin Hotel (Web Series)
Genre: Backstory, Crossdressing, Gen, Implied Cannibalism, Implied Murder, New Orleans, Parenthood, Period-Typical Homophobia, Prostitution, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Single Parents, your kid is fucked up ma'am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:27:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29019690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OverlyCheerfulRat/pseuds/OverlyCheerfulRat
Summary: Calixte's baby is perfectly normal.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	am i blinded to what my son lacks?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paper_moons](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paper_moons/gifts).



People always said Calixte was a good girl until the boy down the road started visiting. When she put a ringless hand over her swollen belly, when she skipped church to care for her bastard child, that was when she became a bad girl. And somehow everyone suddenly knew that she was never really good, they just pretended not to see the signs. 

It was her cousin who told her she should move. "No such thing as a bad girl in New Orleans. I can get you a room, you just say the word." Calixte took the offer and brought her infant son with her into the brothel, setting him in the closet when gentlemen called. If the neighbors already thought she was a whore, she might as well earn the title. Her bastard was a year old when they moved to the city, and although she told the other working girls his name was Alastor, they all called him "Calixte's baby", even as he got older.

"Isn't Calixte's baby a little strange?"

"I saw Calixte's baby skin his knee yesterday, and he didn't cry until she came outside and saw."

"Calixte's baby killed a bird earlier, just snapped the little neck. He didn't see me watching."

"Calixte's baby threw my daughter's doll in the fireplace last night."

Calixte didn't particularly care what anyone thought about her son. They just didn't like him because he was smarter than their kids, she told herself proudly. Alastor learned to read early and spent hours lying on the floor with any books he could find, listening to the radio. There were a few strange things about him, sure- he was awfully quiet, he wet the bed until he was almost sixteen, he never frowned- but everyone had quirks. The things her coworkers said were lies. Her baby wouldn't hurt anyone.

And when he got that fancy radio job, Calixte felt a certain smug superiority mixed in with her maternal pride. Her coworkers all thought there was something wrong with her baby, but he'd accomplished more than their children, hadn't he? You would never know where Alastor grew up, he was such a charming, well-mannered young man. 

"You think I could have one of your old dresses?" Calixte stared at her son blankly, and he quickly clarified, "There's a lady I met. She's been saying she needs a new dress, but she can't afford it. She's tall, like you. I offered to buy her one, but she said no, she wouldn't have me spending money on her. I figure she can't say no if it's just a hand-me-down." 

That night, after the last john left, Calixte pictured a wedding. Privately, she'd always worried Alastor might be an invert, so while she knew he probably wouldn't marry the first girl he dated, she was relieved enough to fantasize. They'd have children, proper children. She would be a grandmother!

She waited a few months before bringing the mystery girl up again. "So, when am I gonna meet your lady friend?"

"My what?" Alastor sounded surprised, and Calixte rolled her eyes.

"Don't play dumb. The girl you gave my old dress to, when are you planning to bring her around?"

"Oh, she's just a friend." He was still smiling, but he looked nervous, and Calixte bit back a laugh- her baby was embarrassed. Well, he could keep his lady friend secret a while longer.

A few weeks later, on a particularly cool night, she went out for a walk. There was a dance hall down the block, and as she walked past, she heard a man laugh. He had a tall, dark-haired girl on his arm, and she was wearing Calixte's old dress. Her heart fell- either Alastor's lady friend really was just a friend, or she was stepping out behind his back. She'd have to tell him next weekend, Calixte thought, but then the girl turned her head. 

Not a girl at all, Calixte realized, staring at her son's face, made up to look delicately feminine. He was smiling, always smiling, and there was something hungry in his expression. A different kind of mother might have confronted him, but Calixte just walked home, trying to come to terms with the fact that her son was apparently not going to provide grandchildren. He's still a good boy, she told herself.

She didn't mention it, and Alastor never talked about his nonexistent lady friend again. For years, Calixte was content to ignore whatever parts of himself her son wanted to hide. His perversion wasn't affecting his life in any negative way that she could see. In fact, she rarely thought of it, until the day she recognized a missing person photo in the newspaper. 

While she liked to think that night hadn't changed her view of her son, Calixte could still picture it clear as day- Alastor dolled up to look like a woman, and the man he was leaning on, the man whose face was in the paper next to six others. Men who'd last been seen in dance halls, with a tall, smiling woman. 

The next time Alastor came to visit, she tried not to think of the newspaper article. There were plenty of tall women in New Orleans, after all. And if Alastor had looked at that man the same way he looked at his steak, well, Calixte could forget it. There was nothing wrong with her baby.

**Author's Note:**

> "fuck you my child is completely fine" your child is a serial killer


End file.
